Composite decking

jlpressure

jlpressure

JL Pressure Washing
I have a bunch of 3 story stairwells to do if I can get them clean. They want the composite boards on the stairs cleaned. Its not Trex Deck but a knock off of it. We havent really done any where they want a full clean in a long time

I usually use a real strong mix of 12% and soap with mixed results, quite often we will Xjet it on and let dwell and at times brush it.

Anyone know of the BEST way to clean this composite decking, anything new for a soap, do you brush etc etc.

There is some of the black mold you see but mainly dirt & grime thats ground in. Its for one of my best customers. We will be doing a test cleaning to find the best way. I know these can be a PITA

Any help appreciated
Thanks
 
Jeff I don't know much about those boards but I do know they are easy to wash the colors out of them. What I read about those boards they are recycled plastic and saw dust with color dye through board.
So Jeff I would try lighter house wash see what happens. Jeff what size tank holding your house wash for xjet.
 
We do them quite often as well. We have heard about the was out as well. It depends on what the manufacture is. If you do a cleaning different then the manufacture recommends then you can make the warranty invalid. I think TREX is one of those companies that says that. Fiburon is an easy clean. No chems and about 1500 psi cold water can get that done. I believe TREX sells their own chem product now and its just a weak bleach mix and they say to scrub with a brush. There was another manufacturer that got sued last year for doing or saying the same as TREX's "maintenance free". Good luck Jeff.
 
Manufacturer does matter on whether the color will hold or not. We put composites in the same category as anything else --- test spot :)

I do know that none of the manufacturers are big fans of pressure washers - we had to actually prove to Trex that we had less than 1000 psi when we worked for them.

Tony Szabo cleans a TON of that stuff - he literally sends his guys with a garden hose and a medium stiffness brush. Little soap for the cling, little bleach for the nasties and rinse away :)

Sealing the stuff is a killer upsell.

Celeste
 
WeWashConcrete said:
I would do a test spot of Cleansol BC from EaCo Chem, even tho I have had mixed results with their products, I think it may work well on composite.

If nothing worked, I'd call Len to put down some real wood!
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Jeff,
We clean alot of these and we apply a mix almost as strong as the roof mix (SH & Joy, Dawn,) let dwell for at least 10-15 min then rinse with low pressure. Good luck and watch out for items below.
 
innovativewash said:
Jeff,
We clean alot of these and we apply a mix almost as strong as the roof mix (SH & Joy, Dawn,) let dwell for at least 10-15 min then rinse with low pressure. Good luck and watch out for items below.
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Look out BELOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Light bleach, soap, brush/scrub and no pressure for the one's we've done. Last thing you want to do is bleach out the color on some of these cheaper varieties or risk pulling some plastic splinters up by blasting it
 
innovativewash said:
Jeff,
We clean alot of these and we apply a mix almost as strong as the roof mix (SH & Joy, Dawn,) let dwell for at least 10-15 min then rinse with low pressure. Good luck and watch out for items below.
Click to expand...

x2. Spray on your roof mix, let dwell, and rinse with low pressure. Rinsing can be done with a garden hose.
 
innovativewash said:
Jeff,
We clean alot of these and we apply a mix almost as strong as the roof mix (SH & Joy, Dawn,) let dwell for at least 10-15 min then rinse with low pressure. Good luck and watch out for items below.
Click to expand...

We use the same method. Sometimes we will use buckets with throw away sponge mops to apply and rinse with a hose.
 
Hey Jeff, do you have a roof machine. do it like you would do a roof. no pressure high bleach 10 minutes to 15 dwell and no pressure rinse.Any pressure voids the warranties. Our company was contacted by trex themselves to do some decks for them, warranty work. and the way I just described is their way. but they want you to use the expensive comp. deck cleaner. same stuff
 
We apply a roof mix and rinse with the M5 for speed. Did one recently that the customer paid 2 different companies to pressure wash it, one with high heat and one with cold and neither came clean. She also had pecan stains all over it. Within 10 seconds of spraying with a roof mix the test spot came 100% clean. Her deck looked awesome when we were done.
 
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